Virtually every industry today uses the world wide web to facilitate data interchange between customers and their suppliers. For example, the travel industry makes extensive use of the world wide web to link travel agents with their suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, and so on. To obtain information from any supplier's web site, the travel agent must first launch his/her browser and enter in the supplier's URL. The browser then access the supplier's web site and downloads the supplier's initial web pages, which are viewed in the browser window. The supplier's web site will usually have a variety of features, such as a searchable database of products and services and on-line ordering features for ordering products or services. To access the searching and ordering features of the supplier's web site, the travel agent may need to first log into the web site using a user name and password. After logging onto the web site, the travel agent can then search for or order a particular product by filling out an online form. In addition to fields which must be filled in, these online forms usually incorporate such things as drop down menus and calendars. After the online form is filled in, the user then submits the form, which causes the supplier's web site to transmit the information in the submitted form to the supplier's web server. The supplier's web server then processes the information in the form and submits the results to the travel agents browser, which displays the results in the browser window.
As can be appreciated, the process of logging into web sites, filling out forms and waiting for the results can take several minutes for each supplier web site consulted by the travel agent. Usually, travel agents are required to investigate alternative possible choices for their customers (different airlines, airports, departure dates, flight times, and so on). As a result, the travel agent will have to access several different web sites from several different competing suppliers. It is estimated that it can take as long as 15 to 30 minutes for a travel agent to check as few as 5 to 10 different supplier web sites. Furthermore, since a different web site would have to be accessed for each supplier, it is difficult to compare between several different suppliers to determine which supplier provides the best product at the best price. A system which automatically enters and retrieves data from web sites with search requests originating from a client's computer would help customers and travel agents to compare offerings, by searching multiple web pages letting the customer select an optimal travel choice, and then book the transaction.